The search had gone on for only hour or so. Cassandra went by herself to look for Zelaphelia, since Munkustrap and Tugger had gone together; and the twins stayed with each other, so that just lead the Siamese queen to wander-off on her own. To think, this silly little queen caused so much trouble through the tribe. Well, she had certainly made an impression on Cassandra's mate, Alonzo. He was all over her the moment she had been accepted into the tribe.

She realized her mate was very flirtatious, but he knew his boundaries as well, and Cassandra sensed that the nuzzle he gave her after the acceptance ceremony was just a friendly welcome. Not only that, but she was probably too young for him, and he knew what trouble he'd get into if he flirted with another queen. Cassandra was calm enough to accept that. Jealousy wasn't the strongest feeling in the Junkyard.

This was almost forbidden grounds, and not even a foolish Jellicle would enter without knowing the risks. This place is what the tribe called "Macavity's ground." It wasn't official, but anyone knows no Jellicle had come to the Warehouse with bad intentions and was heard from again. Of course they were just rumors; Bomba and Demeter had made it through as his queens for a few years, but they had left him, so apparently it couldn't be as true as Macavity would like it to be.

Munkustrap suggested he and Tugger search the condemned buildings, while the twins checked the alleys, and Cassandra would search near the Warehouse. She wasn't as afraid as most were; everyone thinks that she had some sort of thing with Macavity, and that's why she was so mysterious. Rumors…they spread more than was expected of a Jellicle. She had never met Macavity, let alone had a fling with him; the only she had seen him was at the Jellicle ball last year when he kidnapped Old Deuteronomy, also she had heard much of him from Bomba when she was with him, so this part of Macavity's ground was unfamiliar to her. Luckily it would be easy to stay hidden, considering it was a dark night, and the Siamese queen wasn't very well during that time. Cassandra wanted to get closer into the Warehouse; maybe Zela was kidnapped by the mysterious red tom, and she was determined to find out.

The Siamese queen slowly paced forward where the old abandoned Warehouse stood still; wind drifting through the broken windows, making a high whistle. The stars were hidden behind the dark clouds as the moonlight commenced in shining through the night sky as it rose higher from the east. Cassandra saw no cats guarding the Warehouse door or anywhere around it; Macavity must be a real idiot if he never has a patrol watching his lair. She thought to herself. She quickly and silently sprinted toward a few crates stacked on top of each other that lead up to a window with broken glass, and a candle light shining through it. The curious queen crawled up to the top box, and peered through the framework.

Inside the room were six different females. They were almost shadows in the darkness, yet they were partly visible; Cassandra could barely see past the light of the candle, but their voices were as clear as day as she heard the conversation going between them,

"What…was that?" a strong but feminine voice asked, Cassandra could've sworn she had recognized it.

"...um….what was what?" asked another female; The Siamese queen thought that she must've been young; possibly between queen and kittenhood. This cat also sounded vaguely familiar.

The other voice spoke, "You were staring at the floor; your paws were shaking like mad, and your eyes didn't blink for minutes. What was happening Zela?"

Cassandra's eyes widened at the remembrance of the name. Could it be the young queen had found her way here?

"I…I was…" the young female hesitated, but then let out a sigh, "I had some sort of…vision. That's all I can really say…I don't like to talk about it."

"Oh come now!" upraised a high, nasally voice of a young queen, "What are you talking about? What do you mean a "vision?" I'm pretty sure we all need to know."

"Now, now Cybil," said the strong voiced female, "If Zela wishes not to tell us than she doesn't have to. It isn't our place to interrogate new queens; she is our friend, not our prisoner."

"Oh what do you know Griddlebone?" The grey and blue shadow known as Cybil mumbled.

Cassandra paused at the name said; so that's why the voice sounded so familiar, it was Griddlebone. The white queen was a cat Cassandra had met once; she was a manipulative cat and one of Macavity's queens as well. The Siamese female hated her with a passion, but what was Zela doing with her, and in the Warehouse? It didn't matter now; what did matter was that Zela was there. That blasted Mystery Cat must've nabbed her, Cassandra thought, I've got to get to Munkustrap and Tugger. She quickly leaped off of the crates and scattered away from the east side of the Warehouse. Uh, they could be anywhere! Hmm…might as well search the closest building. She ran off on the dirty streets of the "Macavity's Grounds" trying to gain as much distance as she could from where she had departed.

Cassandra heard the wind whistle past her ear, as the night softly grew darker by the black clouds rolling in. The tension in her body slowly crept from her feet to her shoulders, in fear. Then, suddenly, the Siamese queen heard the paws of two cats padding toward her, just as she gained several feet away from the Warehouse. Oh good, she thought in relief, It must be Munku and Tugger. She turned around, expecting to be greeted by her half-brothers, but to her horror she realized she was followed by two of Macavity's henchcats. Their black fur was almost camouflaged with the darkness, if it weren't for the moonlight glistening off of them. One had white specks of the top of his head, and the other had a torn ear.

Both of their crazy red eyes looked upon the Siamese queen with interest, while they circled her aimlessly. The fur on Cassandra's neck pricked up, and she let out a small hiss in hostility, signaling the two henchcats to stay their distance.

The black tom with white specks on the top of his head smiled grimly, "Feisty isn't she Cletus?" he asked his partner.

"Yes Strephon, but awfully pretty." The cat called Cletus answered, "But she's got the Jellicle scent on her. Why not have some fun with this one before we give her to Macavity? Don't want to waste what will be left of her loveliness once he gets done with her."

"Hmm…why not? Do you want first spin Cletus?"

"It'd be my pleasure. Now come here Miss Pretty-Kitty…"

The torn eared henchcat came closer to Cassandra; his intentions smothered in his lustful eyes. The queen backed away, and gave another hiss, but not even that could stop the disgusting tom known as Cletus. When he was only a few inches away, the Siamese queen could tell he was about to pounce after he got on to a crouch. Before he tried anything, Cassandra quickly flinched forward, flexed out her claws and scratched the black tom in the face. He scurried to his partner after the surprise attack lunged at him, while she quickly faced them both in an opposite direction.

Cletus swept the blood from his face and was now glaring at the frightened queen, "Maybe it would be better if we took her out now, and saved Macavity the trouble."

"I couldn't agree more…" Strephon responded. Together, the two leaped toward Cassandra, their claws extended. Before the Siamese queen could react, they both took a blow at her shoulders. She shuddered at her pain, but counter-attacked the two cats by scratching the underbellies while they were up in the air. Now all three of them had injuries, but none of them were affected by them.

Cassandra leaped on top of the henchcat known as Cletus, and rattled his head as much as she could, but with little success. The torn-eared tom quickly shook her off of his back, and then Strephon climbed on the queen, trying to bring her to the ground by his weight. She quickly catapulted the black and white tom off with her feet, and sprang up in a ready-attack position, but Cletus repeated the actions of his partner by leaping on top of the queen, and this time, he got deep scratched imbedded in the surface of her side. She clasped her paws on the painful wounds, but with her free hand, she slashed Cletus in the face several times, and then pounced on him, and doing the same thing he had done to her sides.

Cassandra then swiped Strephon's leg while he was behind her, turned to face him lying on the ground, in pain, and kicked him in the side to stop him from getting up. The pain still stung the young queen, and lucky for her, the two tired toms rushed off in fear of another attack. With hope they'll die on the way back, the Siamese queen joked to herself. She had bruised them as hard as she could, and it was just her against two well-trained henchcats. She was pretty proud of herself, but her mind went back to the issue at hand: she was severely injured and she had information that had to be given to Munku.

She was about to sprint through the first building she saw, but the pain in her sides burned. Cassandra looked at her paw she had kept on her wound, and saw it covered it blood. The Siamese queen collapsed in tormenting strain, but despite the pain invading her body, she made every effort to crawl with what movable parts she was able to maneuver towards her destination. She slowly made it away from the Warehouse boundaries, and crawled through the dark alleys like the area was a labyrinth. Cassandra was confused, and all she wanted was to stop the hurt in her body, and to find the rest of her family.

She looked around, feeling like all hope was lost, but then she heard the padding of two feet walking together. Was it more patrollers for Macavity or could it possibly be one of her half-siblings? It didn't matter; she felt that she would even surrender to the elite cat of mystery now. Perhaps he'd end her sufferings, but of course she was hoping the best would happen. There was no turning around now; with every vocal she let out the warning signal of the Jellicles, hoping it would be of some help. In just a little time, Cassandra was sweating in relief to see the two toms, Munku and Tugger coming towards after hearing the warning. They both had astounded looks of shock on their faces.

"Cassandra," shouted the silver tabby, "Cassandra…Cassie, What happened?"

The injured queen could barely move, but she looked at the two toms and breathed deeply several times, "I found her…but…I was attacked…she's…she's…"

"Where?" Tugger asked frantically, "Where is she Cassie?"

But the Siamese queen couldn't answer…the faces of her companions quickly faded as the sky twisted around her vision…and darkness filled what was left of her consciousness that was soon deduced to nothing…

^~*~^

An awkward silence surrounded the queen's den, as Griddlebone had paused from her argument with Cybil. Jezabella looked at the golden-red queen curiously. This is the offspring of the elite cat of mystery? She asked herself, Huh…Doesn't look like much. The cream-colored female tossed her nose in the air, not caring what Zela's excuse was for that odd position she was in. Griddlebone was partially correct on what she had said; Jeza was…jealous of the newest female, despite the fact that she was Macavity's daughter.

Jezabella wondered if the golden-red queen would attract more attention to the red tom instead of her, but what were his intentions of having Zela here? Macavity probably had plenty of children from the queens he'd met in his lifetime; why was this one so special? Was it possibly how attractive she was; that she would look better with him than any of his other queens? Or was it because he just got tired of every female in his lair and needed someone newer and prettier than Jezabella? Not that she is more attractive than me, the prissy queen thought, it's probably that she's his daughter and he thinks she deserves some sort of special treatment because of it. Uh…it makes me sick.

Jeza thought that maybe if she acted like she was ignoring Macavity, it would make him want her more. Of course her expectations were low; he was usually busy and rarely spent time with his queens. But now, Jezabella couldn't care less; she curled up into a ball on the olive-green sofa, and lied down on the creamy-white pillow, pretending to sleep, but actually listened to the conversation going on amongst her colleagues and the new female.

"I didn't mean to do anything," explained Zelaphelia, sounding distressed, "sometimes it just happens…"

"We understand," this came from Ladonna who was speaking in her French accent and sitting next to the cream and white colored queen, unaware she was only pretending to sleep, "Sometimes Jezabella can be a bit of a-how you say, hot-head, but that's only because she cares, but sometimes it's just because she's looking after herself."

This caused a snicker among the queens, but was then met by another awkward silence. Jeza tried to hold in the anger from the comment. The black and white female, Ladonna always got under her skin.

Finally Griddle bone spoke, "Well, I believe we should all follow Jeza's example, and get some rest. It's been a long night for all of us."

"Dibs on the blue couch!" shouted the over-excited Cybil, who's feet quickly padded and leaped on to the sofa she had referred to.

"Hey," spat the Siamese queen, Celestica, "You can't take the entire couch Cybil," the female leaped off from her original spot on the red sofa, and leaped on to the blue one next to the gray queen.

"Come on Zelaphelia," said the white Prussian female, "You and I can sleep on the red couch."

"Thank you so much, Griddlebone." The golden-red queen said appreciatively.

And so all of the females came on to the sofa they had claimed, and not a sound came from any of them right after. Jeza sneered at the silence; she was hoping that one of them would speak of something more interesting, but was only disappointed. The candle light had gone out, and the moon was the only light shining from the window. Jeza soon dozed-off, with Macavity's daughter, consuming every thought in her mind. She's not getting a hold of my master that easily, she thought, uh...I'll figure out what she was doing; she can't hide her dirty Jellicle secrets forever. With that, the young queen drifted into a state of unconsciousness, and quickly fell asleep, but with a plan being concocted in her mind…

^~*~^

Tantomile and Coricopat never apart, but in this case, they decided they would split-up to search the alley-ways faster. Also with their twin telepathy, they would be able to stay in contact with each other if anything should happen. That was why Tanti was nervous, not for the sake of her and her brother, but for the safety of her friend and half-sister, Cassandra. It wasn't safe for a queen to wander off by herself, especially here in Macavity's grounds, and though Cassie was a very agile and mysterious cat, she didn't know these parts of the city anymore than her half-sibling twins.

Yes, Tanti and Cori didn't even know Macavity's grounds well enough to feel brave and secure there. Cori couldn't even fully focus on the search because his fear overcame most of his mind. He didn't like being away from his sister; they were never separate, not even at birth, but at drastic times the two would go to drastic measures.

Tantomile looked around at the maze everyone called alleys. It was so confusing, because it felt like she had been to the previous one after she turned a corner; everything looks the same to me. She thought.

Don't worry Tanti, Cori telepathically thought to his sister, I still think we aren't far from when we separated with Tugger and Munk.

Oh great, the queen thought back, so we've just been traveling in circles for almost thirty minutes?

The striped tom chuckled at his sister's remark, Maybe we've just been double-checking a lot.

Not the best time to make jokes. Tantomile retorted, Cori. Do you see anything?

Cori paused, looking thoroughly through the streets, and blankly read through his mind, but saw nothing then, I don't think so… he answered, What about you?

Old Deuteronomy always thought the supernatural ability of a female cat was sometimes stronger than a male, so Tanti thought maybe if she searched harder in her mind…and suddenly a panic-stricken shock went through the queen, as she saw through the blankness of her mind, she felt pain…and two shadows attacking her, and Cassandra was there…she had experienced a vision.

Oh my gosh…I see something…We have to get to Tugger and Munkustrap! Tanti alerted her brother, they're with Cassie, but she's injured.

What? What happened?

I'll explain on the way, but hurry and meet me near the-

I know, near the warehouse…got it.

Coricopat could read Tanti's vision. The way they saw the past, was that they became part of what happened. The striped queen had felt pain, and two black cats had attacked her. She must have had a vision as Cassandra while she was ambushed by two of Macavity's henchcats, and that's why the Siamese queen was injured. It was clear now, and the two cats now had met together and rushed by each other's sides, racing against time, trying to get to their half-sister.

Tantomile could already see the silver reflecting off of Munkustrap's fur by the moonlight. They were close now; together, the twins ran next to the two figures in the darkness, staring down at the pitiful looking Cassandra who was now unconscious. Tugger glanced their way, but instead of greeting them, the fur on his back pricked up and hissed. The twins were confused at first, wondering why their half-brother was threatening them, but then the curious cat, relaxed his muscles once the moonlight had shone on their faces.

"Oh, sorry guys," Tugger said apologetically, "I thought you were one of Macavity's."

"It's alright," the Twins said in unison.

Munkustrap looked at the two with concern in his eyes, then looked down at the injured Siamese queen, "Cassandra was attacked-"

"We know," Tantomile interrupted, "She was ambushed by two of Macavity's henchcats. They must've run off, and then she had to crawl."

"She said she knew where Zelaphelia was though, before she lost consciousness." The silver and black tom replied.

Coricopat pondered this, "Hmm…that must mean she's close."

"Than we half to get Cassandra back to the Junkyard and tell Old Deuteronomy immediately." Munkustrap confirmed.

"What?" questioned Tugger, staring at his brother in disbelief, "and leave Zela here with Macavity so close by? I don't think so Munk, we have to find her and get her out of there."

"And how do you suggest we do that?" the Jellicle protector asked, "We can't just walk in the Warehouse and ask if they've seen our missing female; we are in danger just being a few feet away from the building, and what about Cassandra? We can't leave her here; she's losing too much blood. If we don't get her back now, she could die, and Alonzo would never forgive any of us for leaving her while she was in need of medical attention. We have to get her to Jellyorum before it's too late. Don't worry, will get Zela as soon as we can, but we don't have enough cats to go against all of Macavity's stooges.

Tugger looked down at his half-sister, still pondering Munk's words. Everyone knew he hated when he had to give-up on something he wanted. Finally, he sighed in grief, "Your right Munkustrap. Let's get Cassie out of here."

"Alright then," the silver tom retorted, "You and I will grab her legs, Cori, lift her by her side, and Tantomile, lift her arms."

The three cats followed Munk's instructions, and lifted Cassie into the air, carrying her away from the dark streets of Macavity's grounds, having to leave the young queen, Zela, to fend for herself at the Warehouse, still having no idea she was there…

^~*~^

Demeter, Alonzo, and Admetus stood a silent patrol. The three had no means of speaking to each other, not knowing what to say. The golden queen was still in grief. I did all this, she said to herself, None of us would be here if it weren't for me…

"Deme," Alonzo said, staring at the queen.

"Yes, what is it?" Demeter asked the black and white tom.

"Are you alright? You look a little sick."

"I-I'm okay, just thinking is all."

"Are you sure? I think Bomba might still be here, she can take your place if you don't think you can-"

"No Lonzo," the golden queen interrupted calmly, "I'll be alright…"

"You're thinking of Zela?" this came from Admetus, who was unusually curious now.

"I'm such an idiot," Demeter retorted, "none of this would've happened if it weren't for me."

"Stop beating yourself up Deme," Alonzo told her, "You were honest with the tribe, and Zela overreacted, it's no big deal."

"It wasn't Zela's fault," The golden queen stated, "She was a victim of circumstance. I just wish it didn't take me so long to tell the truth. I've just been keeping this for so long."

"Don't worry," the black and white tom said, "It's out in the open now, and it's no time to blame yourself for all that has happened."

"I know, I know…"

They sat in silence, still gaping into the darkness, expecting nothing, but then, out of the night, stood a large figure. Was it one of the search parties with Zela? Demeter's hope was raised, but soon, the street lamp light revealed it to be the twins, Tugger, and Munkustrap, but they were all carrying Cassie, who had blood seeping out of her side.

Alonzo's green eyes grew large in disbelief at the sight of his wounded mate. He leaped from post to meet the four cats and his beloved Cassandra.

"Oh no, why? Why her…" the black and white tom muttered.

Demeter felt so much pain filling her body. The golden queen had not changed her mind. She had brought this upon the poor Siamese queen. She had caused grief in Alonzo. It was all her fault, and now her daughter was still out there…what was she going do? Demeter looked upon the injured queen, guilt consuming her. Why must we all suffer because of me? The golden queen thought, Oh Zelaphelia, Where could you be…